CHICAGO — Brave Space Alliance, a Black- and trans-led LGBTQ center on the South Side, has a new leader.
Channyn Lynne Parker, former board chair of the nonprofit, will take over as CEO May 1, according to an announcement.
“I am absolutely thrilled to serve as the new CEO of Brave Space Alliance and to spend each day lifting up the voices of our community,” Parker said. “I intend to lead this organization with compassion and intention to ensure that we are positioning [the Brave Space Alliance] to provide the kind of affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us resources that our community has come to rely on and needs now more than ever.”
Parker, a former director of strategic relations at Howard Brown Health, has advocated for transgender people more than 15 years, according to Brave Space Alliance. She is a member of the Illinois commissions on Discrimination and Hate Crimes and on Poverty Elimination and Economic Security.
Parker has also served on Equality Illinois, the Transformative Justice Legal Project and the University of Chicago’s LGBTQ Board of Diversity and Inclusion, according to Brave Space Alliance.
Parker also previously worked as a case manager for people detained at or returning from Cook County Jail, Brave Space Alliance officials said. She’s also worked with Stroger Hospital as a housing navigator, TaskForce as a manager of resources and advocacy and the Gay, Lesbian Straight Education Network as a Midwest field assistant.
Parker is also a member of the House of Balenciaga, which uses civic service to support Chicago’s ballroom community, and underground subculture that mixes dance, modeling, lip-syncing and other types of performance in events known as balls.
Parker was chosen from a pool of applicants by the group’s board of directors, which includes Kim Hunt, Lilly Wachowski, Michelle Zacarias and Tracy Baim.
“We are beyond excited that Channyn has decided to join BSA as our new CEO,” the board members said in a joint statement. “She has already played an imperative role in getting the organization back on track, and is the right leader at the right time to keep BSA on a path to success.”
Jae Rice, who served as interim CEO during the search for a permanent one, will be the organization’s deputy executive director, officials said.
“It’s been an honor to lead [Brave Space Alliance] during this time, ensuring that no services were interrupted during this transition and that the integrity of our organization remained intact,” Rice said.
Rice took over as interim CEO last year after Brave Space Alliance’s founder and former CEO was ousted and reported to the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.
The board released a statement at the time saying a months-long investigation into the group’s finances found former CEO LaSaia Wade allowed funds to be sent to unknown bank accounts and other “questionable spending.”
Wade declined to comment, but she told the Hyde Park Herald she used the organization’s money to contribute to trans relief, funeral, housing and medical funds. She said there was no organizational framework to approve the expenditures until the Brave space Alliance Board formed.
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